Book of Common Prayer

³ Who can go up to the temple on the mountain of the Lord?
    Who can stand in his holy place?
⁴ Anyone who has clean hands and a pure heart.
    Anyone who does not trust in the statue of a god.
    Anyone who doesn’t use the name of that god when he makes a promise.
⁵ People like that will receive the Lord’s blessing.
    When God their Savior hands down his sentence, it will be in their favor.
⁶ The people who look to God are like that.
    God of Jacob, they look to you.

⁷ Open wide, you gates.
    Open up, you ancient doors.
    Then the King of glory will come in.
⁸ Who is the King of glory?
    The Lord, who is strong and mighty.
    The Lord, who is mighty in battle.
⁹ Open wide, you gates.
    Open wide, you ancient doors.
    Then the King of glory will come in.
¹⁰ Who is he, this King of glory?
    The Lord who rules over all.
    He is the King of glory.

³ The voice of the Lord is heard over the waters.
    The God of glory thunders.
    The Lord thunders over the mighty waters.
⁴ The voice of the Lord is powerful.
    The voice of the Lord is majestic.
⁵ The voice of the Lord breaks the cedar trees.
    The Lord breaks the cedars of Lebanon into pieces.
⁶ He makes the mountains of Lebanon leap like a calf.
    He makes Mount Hermon jump like a young wild ox.
⁷ The voice of the Lord strikes
    with flashes of lightning.
⁸ The voice of the Lord shakes the desert.
    The Lord shakes the Desert of Kadesh.
⁹ The voice of the Lord twists the oak trees.
    It strips the forests bare.
    And in his temple everyone cries out, “Glory!”

¹⁰ The Lord on his throne rules over the flood.
    The Lord rules from his throne as King forever.
¹¹ The Lord gives strength to his people.
    The Lord blesses his people with peace.

You have set your glory
    in the heavens.
² You have made sure that children
    and infants praise you.
Their praise is a wall
    that stops the talk of your enemies.

³ I think about the heavens.
    I think about what your fingers have created.
I think about the moon and stars
    that you have set in place.
⁴ What are human beings that you think about them?
    What is a son of man that you take care of him?
⁵ You have made them a little lower than the angels.
    You placed on them a crown of glory and honor.

⁶ You made human beings rule over everything your hands created.
    You put everything under their control.
⁷ They rule over all flocks and herds
    and over the wild animals.
⁸ They rule over the birds in the sky
    and over the fish in the ocean.
    They rule over everything that swims in the oceans.

⁹ Lord, our Lord,
    how majestic is your name in the whole earth!

³ Lord who rules over all,
    even the sparrow has found a home near your altar.
My King and my God,
    the swallow also has a nest there,
    where she may have her young.
⁴ Blessed are those who live in your house.
    They are always praising you.

⁵ Blessed are those whose strength comes from you.
    They have firmly decided to travel to your temple.
⁶ As they pass through the dry Valley of Baka,
    they make it a place where water flows.
    The rain in the fall covers it with pools.
⁷ Those people get stronger as they go along,
    until each of them appears in Zion, where God lives.

⁸ Lord God who rules over all, hear my prayer.
    God of the people of Jacob, listen to me.
⁹ God, may you be pleased with your anointed king.
    You appointed him to be like a shield that keeps us safe.

¹⁰ A single day in your courtyards is better
    than a thousand anywhere else.
I would rather guard the door of the house of my God
    than live in the tents of sinful people.
¹¹ The Lord God is like the sun that gives us light.
    He is like a shield that keeps us safe.
    The Lord blesses us with favor and honor.
He doesn’t hold back anything good
    from those whose lives are without blame.

¹² Lord who rules over all,
    blessed is the person who trusts in you.

¹⁹ “Where does light come from?
    And where does darkness live?
²⁰ Can you take them to their places?
    Do you know the paths to their houses?
²¹ I am sure you know! After all, you were already born!
    You have lived so many years!

²² “Have you entered the places where the snow is kept?
    Have you seen the storerooms for the hail?
²³ I store up snow and hail for times of trouble.
    I keep them for days of war and battle.
²⁴ Where does lightning come from?
    Where do the east winds live that blow across the earth?
²⁵ Who tells the rain where it should fall?
    Who makes paths for the thunderstorms?
²⁶ They bring water to places where no one lives.
    They water deserts that do not have anyone in them.
²⁷ They satisfy the needs of dry and empty lands.
    They make grass start growing there.
²⁸ Does the rain have a father?
    Who is the father of the drops of dew?
²⁹ Does the ice have a mother?
    Who is the mother of the frost from the heavens?
³⁰ The waters become as hard as stone.
    The surface of the ocean freezes over.

³¹ “Can you tie up the cords of the Pleiades?
    Can you untie the belt that Orion wears?
³² Can you bring out all the stars in their seasons?
    Can you lead out the Big Dipper and the Little Dipper?
³³ Do you know the laws that govern the heavens?
    Can you rule over the earth the way I do?

³⁴ “Can you give orders to the clouds?
    Can you make them pour rain down on you?
³⁵ Do you send the lightning bolts on their way?
    Do they report to you, ‘Here we are’?
³⁶ Who gives the ibis wisdom?
    Who gives the rooster understanding?
³⁷ Who is wise enough to count the clouds?
    Who can tip over the water jars of the heavens?
³⁸ I tip them over when the ground becomes hard.
    I do it when the dirt sticks together.

³⁹ “Do you hunt for food for mother lions?
    Do you satisfy the hunger of their cubs?
⁴⁰ Some of them lie low in their dens.
    Others lie waiting in the bushes.
⁴¹ Who provides food for ravens
    when their babies cry out to me?
    They wander around because they do not have anything to eat.

“ ‘Fallen! Babylon the Great has fallen!’ (Isaiah 21:9)
    She has become a place where demons live.
She has become a den for every evil spirit.
    She has become a place where every ‘unclean’ bird is found.
    She has become a place where every ‘unclean’ and hated animal is found.
³ All the nations have drunk
    the strong wine of her terrible sins.
The kings of the earth took part in her evil ways.
    The traders of the world grew rich from her great wealth.”

“ ‘Come out of her, my people.’ (Jeremiah 51:45)
    Then you will not take part in her sins.
    You will not suffer from any of her plagues.
⁵ Her sins are piled up to heaven.
    God has remembered her crimes.
⁶ Do to her as she has done to others.
    Pay her back double for what she has done.
    Pour her a double dose of what she has poured for others.
⁷ Give her as much pain and suffering
    as the glory and wealth she gave herself.
She brags to herself,
    ‘I rule on a throne like a queen.
I am not a widow.
    I will never mourn.’ (Isaiah 47:7,8)
⁸ But she will be plagued by death, sadness and hunger.
    In a single day she will suffer all these plagues.
She will be burned up by fire.
    That’s because the Lord God who judges her is mighty.